ONE FOR THE BIRDS

AUSTRALIAN BIRDS often get a bum rap from overseas enthusiasts, even highly esteemed biologists, who often see them as loud, raucous and aggressive, yet we ought to be extraordinarily proud of our birds, what they have produced and how they both orchestrate and adapt to the ecosystems they inhabit.

Australia has 830 species of birds (not including 27 species of introduced birds, or 13 which have become extinct) — more if you take into account immediately adjacent islands. That’s nearly ten per cent of the approximately 10,000 known species of birds on this planet. Nearly half of those are endemic,